Couple random ?'s

I have not posted on here often but I do read the forum regularly. As I was thinking last night about DS and if he would be fortunate enough to receive an appointment to USNA, I came up with couple ?'s that I never asked during our visits (4 times) to USNA. Hopefully someone on here can help out with "lessons learned".

#1 - Is there a "preferred" cell service provider for the Midshipmen?

#2 - As a parent is it beneficial to setup some sort of "cloud" service for your Mid so they can share photo's/etc..?

#4 - This is kind of an odd question. When your plebe does receive liberty (for example Sunday afternoon), is it out of ordinary for family to meet and spend day with them at the Mall or other local attraction? Or would we be better off keeping distance until they are able to come home?

On #4, assume you mean during Ac Year. If you live close enough to visit, there's no reason you can't spend the day with your mid. Many families who live nearby do. For others, there are sponsors. Some WEs your mid may have duty or may need to study or have a sport or some other reason he/she doesn't get much time off. But otherwise, if your mid is happy to see you and you can get there, go for it.

I have not posted on here often but I do read the forum regularly. As I was thinking last night about DS and if he would be fortunate enough to receive an appointment to USNA, I came up with couple ?'s that I never asked during our visits (4 times) to USNA. Hopefully someone on here can help out with "lessons learned".

#1 - Is there a "preferred" cell service provider for the Midshipmen?

#2 - As a parent is it beneficial to setup some sort of "cloud" service for your Mid so they can share photo's/etc..?

#4 - This is kind of an odd question. When your plebe does receive liberty (for example Sunday afternoon), is it out of ordinary for family to meet and spend day with them at the Mall or other local attraction? Or would we be better off keeping distance until they are able to come home?

Any insight or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

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1. Verizon seems to have the best service. We switched from T-Mobile for better speeds and connection.
2. They don't have any time for that during plebe summer nor any thing to take a picture with. It seems you will need to rely on the Alumni Association or one of the outside photog companies for you to get pics of your plebe.
3. No watches during plebe summer. DD has two, a nice gold colored watch for whites and dress and a outdoorsy black rubber type for everything else.
4. Plebes can meet their folks or friends on Saturday and leave the yard and on Sunday but usually have to stay on the yard. Note, sometimes the super gives them liberty for the weekend and Plebes will be allowed to leave the yard Saturday and Sunday.

1. My mid has AT&T ... works fine.
2. Your Plebe will figure out how to share pics on their own
3.NO watches during plebe summer. My Firstie wears a cheap Casio and loves it... even though we bought him a nice watch for high school graduation
4. Plebe year we went to visit twice when he had banked weekends..... they enjoy being with the other midshipmen mostly.

Verizon for cell phones-they seem to have the best coverage. After plebe summer, watches are allowed. I concur with the above posters- the G-shock watches and Casio are very popular. Leave Great-Grandpa's gold watch at home. Unfortunately , there is a lot of theft in Bancroft. Each mid is provided with a small locked area to store valuables-they do need to keep valuables and wallets locked up. DS had his first G-shock stolen while he was in class last year as a plebe ( he hadn't locked it up- he learned his lesson). During plebe year, plebes are not allowed to lock their rooms, even when they are in class. Anyone can enter a plebe's room at any time for any reason. For female mids, they need to leave Grandma's heirloom earrings at home. I told DS basically," if you don't want it to go missing, don't take it to Bancroft."

For "official" pictures of your mid in full dress uniform, (including gloves) I would call photographer Larry Thornton or have your mid do it to set up an appointment on the Yard to be photographed. Beautiful photos.

It was extremely rare when our shipmate stole our stuff when we were Mids, it was often the cleaning crew. They caught and fired many for stealing. Mids caught stealing almost always got booted. Even in the fleet, stealing is dealt with harshly due to the need to trust your fellow Sailors and Marines. None of us were allowed to lock our doors. They had to remain open during the day when no one was there regardless of class. The lockers that can be locked are plenty large enough to lock up valuables like watches, jewelery, electronics.

For real ...what happened to the Honor Concept ?
Has USNA slipped to the point you can trust your shipmates ?

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Youngster year a classmate of mine stole my roommates XBOX and sold it at Gamestop. He's no longer here.
Last year I had $260 worth of winter clothing stolen from my 7th wing locker when I forgot to lock it up.
They separated a classmate for attempting to shoplift from the NS Norfolk NEX.
They separated a mid that had a habit of going into the locker room during swim class and taking peoples wallets. He was caught when somebody set up a camera after they had money stolen over a few consecutive weeks.

So yes, theft happens. With that said, most people are honorable. I've left my phone out on my desk on accident several times and it's never been taken.